Ombuds clears Mayor Rama, ex-budget exec of dishonesty

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and former city budget officer Nelfa Briones are now cleared of the criminal and administrative cases filed against them by former Association of Barangay Councils president Michael Ralota.

This resulted after the Office of the Ombudsman ruled to dismiss the cases involving the two city officials who were sued in 2012 for alleged illegal use of public funds and for dishonesty.

“This is one of the highly controversial cases of the mayor… (With this development, we can say that this is) another winning case for the mayor,” said City Attorney Jerone Castillo.

In a 12-page joint resolution, the criminal charge for illegal use of public funds and the administrative complaint for dishonesty were dismissed, respectively, for lack of probable cause and for lack of substantial evidence.

“At the end of the day, we are happy because we get a favorable resolution. We congratulate our lawyers. We thank the Office of the Ombudsman for being objective (with the case,)” said Castillo, who acts as the legal counsel for the case together with Atty. Lyndon Basan.

The decision of the anti-graft office was only received by the city government on September 1.

The case, filed in December 2012, surfaced after the alleged malversation of funds by the executive department’s use of the P4.5 million financial assistance of ABC.

The money was allegedly used to cover the expenses for gasoline and oil of motor vehicles of the different barangays.

In the 2012 annual budget, the Cebu City Council appropriated P5 million as financial assistance to the ABC but the latter was dismayed after it discovered that only P500,000 was left from the P5 million allocated  budget.

Denying the allegations, the respondents affirmed that there were no irregularities in augmenting the P4.5 million from the “financial assistance to ABC” to the “Aid to City Barangays.” It was Briones who authorized Rama to augment the funds.

Irregularities of the augmentation of funds may constitute dishonesty on the part of Rama and Briones, warranting criminal prosecution for illegal use of public funds.

But the resolution mentioned three reasons why the respondents could not be held responsible.

“First, the mayor was authorized to augment any item in the approved annual budget; second, the said item was considered a savings from other items; third, the savings was for the same expense class of the appropriation,” the resolution read, citing the respondents’ counter-affidavit.

In her decision dated June 9, 2014, Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Irish Inabangan Amores said evidence fell short on proving that the amount was spent for the barangay vehicles’ fuel and oil even if it was established that the P4.5 million ABC financial assistance was augmented to aid to the barangays.

“Nothing from the records would prove that the whole amount augmented, or part of it, was actually used in purchasing fuel and oil for vehicles assigned to different barangays of the city,” she said.

There is no disbursement voucher presented to conclude that there was indeed illegal use of public funds, said Amores.

With insufficient proof for technical malversation, the charge for dishonesty also failed.

“There is no evidence that respondents acted with a disposition to betray, cheat or defraud the public,” Amores ruled. — May B. Miasco/JMD (FREEMAN)